`KNOW HOW TO WIN' CHATSWORTH HAS BECOME STANDARD.

Byline: Heather Gripp Staff Writer

Sunday is a day of rest for high school sports. Except for Chatsworth High baseball coach Tom Meusborn.

When there is no baseball to be played, the coach routinely works on the field to make sure it is one of the region's best-kept. Meusborn, 40, spent this past weekend working on a new team clubhouse.

``He's out there 24/7,'' Chancellors senior first baseman George Spadier said. ``You drive by and there's always coach out there on the mower or doing something on the field.''

Meusborn's dedication to details sets the tone for a program that is as finely tuned as its field. Chatsworth is annually among the City's elite. This season is no different as the Chancellors enter this week's City playoffs seeded No. 1 and seeking their seventh appearance in a final.

``They're very fundamentally sound,'' said Cleveland of Reseda coach Joe Cascione, who set Chatsworth as the standard for his team when he began coaching the Cavaliers last season. ``They rarely beat themselves. That's been their forte for years. The bottom line is you have to play your best game to beat them.''

Granada Hills and Birmingham of Van Nuys are the only teams to defeat Chatsworth this year. The Chancellors (27-2) have just four losses in the past two years. The program has three City titles as well as 21 West Valley League championships, including the last eight in a row.

During Meusborn's tenure, which began in 1990, 17 players - not including those from this year's team - have gone on to play at four-year schools. Since 1966, 24 players have gone on to play professionally. One of those is Cleveland Indians pitcher Steve Reed, a member of Chatsworth's first City-championship team in 1983 who said he still follows the Chancellors.

``The players know about Chatsworth,'' Cascione said. ``It's hard to tell them to take it as another game. ... You hear so much about them, sometimes kids think they're better than high school players.''

The Chancellors often seem that way.

Chatsworth opened the season with 23 consecutive victories and has been ranked as high as third in the nation this season.

Among those on this year's team who seem to belong at a higher level is junior left-hander Joe Guntz. He is 11-0 with a 1.58 ERA after going 11-0 last year. Guntz shares pitching duties with senior Sean Richards (5-0, 1.34), freshman Jason Dominguez (6-0, 2.08) and sophomore Justin Cassel (5-2, 4.46).

There is also UC Irvine-bound second baseman Gregg Wallis, who teams with junior shortstop Ryan Barba to make double plays look easy and chase down most everything hit up the middle. If his fielding isn't enough, Wallis also provides a steady source of offense, batting a team-high .449 with 29 RBI.

Junior Brian Lee (.404, 26 RBI, seven home runs), senior Danny Dominguez (.417), junior Jared Halpert (32 RBI) and Spadier (.362) are other leaders in an offense featuring seven starters hitting at least .340.

And Meusborn doesn't even consider this his most talented group.

That distinction goes to the 1999 team - led by current UCLA pitcher Mike Kunes - that won the City title with a mercy-rule victory over Poly of Sun Valley.

``We get good players,'' said Meusborn, who earned his first City title in his first season by edging another perennial power, El Camino Real of Woodland Hills. ``That's the key. We get players that are talented and buy into what we teach and work hard.

``I think they know the expectation level we're at when they come into the program. I think that's why they come. We get kids that are highly motivated and want to win. That doesn't take a whole lot on my part.

``The kids are out there working on their own a lot. ... That's what it takes, it takes players that are self-motivated. It takes players that have that passion.''

The Chancellors give Meusborn and the rest of the coaching staff more credit than Meusborn takes, but they admit that living up to the program's rich history is an important source of motivation.

``You hear about it before you get here,'' Wallis said. ``It's not necessarily pressure, but we expect to win. I think there's a high standard here. We like to win and we work hard for it.''

The victims of Chatsworth's numerous one-run victories can testify to such a winning attitude.

``When you look across the field and into their dugout in those one-run games, that's the difference,'' said Cascione, whose team suffered two 3-2 losses to Chatsworth this season. ``They know they're going to win. They've got that fierce competitiveness in their eyes. Until they've got that loss, they believe the game is theirs no matter what the score is. They know how to win.''

Chatsworth vs. University High

--Friday, 3 p.m. at Chatsworth High

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Coach Tom Meusborn downplays his role at Chatsworth. ``We get kids that are highly motivated and want to win.''

Eric Grigorian/Staff Photographer

(2) Brian Lee, 2, and Chatsworth are primed for another run at a City title.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer

Box: Chatsworth vs. University High (see text)